Practical Product Review: Magellan Roadmate 5625

Magellan's Roadmate 5625 was on a Black Friday special.   I picked it up as an "upgrade" from our TomTom XL that was about 5 years old.   I did a bit of research on it ahead of time, and it looked like it should do the job nicely. We should be able to set a route to it, with some waypoints, and the Magellan name was reputable.

It worked OK for some local area stuff.   but it didn't get its first real test until this past month, June.   How would it perform on a trip to some of our nation's national parks, in the Southwest?

I did not rely on this device, blindly.  In fact, I brought along maps for each state we were going to be in, as well as printouts of stop-to-stop directions for most of our anticipated stops.

Part of the GPS role was intended for fine-tuning along the way.   You know, looking for a gas station or such that wasn't part of the printout.

How did this unit perform?   It did just fine on the first couple days.   Understandable it didn't catch some of the businesses that changed hands (Ramada became a Super 8, Shell became something else...)  But there were some glaring mistakes that came up

I understand that maybe within the parks, all the points of interest may not be found.   Visitor Centers were generally available POI (point of interest), but campsites and some vistas were not.  Fortunately, we had the tools to get where we needed to go when our device was unable to help - or steered us wrong.

Here are just a couple of the failings of the Roadmate:

• In Las Vegas, NV, the Exxon station we were guided to was actually someone's house in a residential courtyard.   Not a business that may have formerly been a gas station, but a house.
• In Rachel NV, the Little A'Le'Inn is not only not shown as a POI, but the street address is outside the permitted range of the device.   Fortunately, it's visible from NV-375
• In Tombstone, AZ, it shows "east" instead of "west" on Allen St for some of the tourist sites.   
• In Glenwood Springs, CO, it has an incorrect address for the cemetery trail.
• Near Devils Tower, WY, it tries to throw you into a loop, instead of the actual path on US 14 to Devils Tower National Monument.

This on top of some other items that were either non-searchable, or had bad or invalid directions (suggestions to turn off interstate highways, exits that were not present, etc)

I spoke, at great length, with a representative at Magellan.   I am not left with a feeling of satisfaction with the product from this.    One of his lines was that the device was right 95% of the the time....  This is not a comfort, considering how significantly wrong the 5% of the times were.   Again, fortunately, I did my homework ahead of time, and we were able to adapt when our GPS proved itself an accessory for the car battery more than a directional aid.  

I  discussed my situation with the Magellan representative.   In discussing resolution, I am really not satisfied.   some things may get updated in the next map update.  Great... that helps us last month.   I didn't even get a token apology from my discussion.

If I were to give a review of this product, I would have to say it was poor to minimally adequate.   It's not the ratio of right to wrong/missing, but the quality of such.   I can understand some errors/lapses, but not some of the things we experienced.   This device seems OK for some local area navigation.  I don't put stock in it for a significant road trip though.   I don't recommend it to others.   I believe we'll be testing the market for other options as well, just based on our experience with the device - and the company.